Star Wars_ Fate of the Jedi 01_ Outcast - Aaron Allston [120]
“Where is Jedi Hellin?”
Master Hamner gave the captain a cool, indifferent look. “I do not know, and that is the truth.”
“Why didn't you tell us that Jedi Hellin had gone rogue, that he would stage a rescue attempt?”
“We told you he had ‘gone rogue.’” Hamner's tone was endlessly but not cheerfully patient, as though he were answering the same question from the same hardheaded child for the thirtieth time. “We told you, when we provided you the list of all active Jedi, that he was no longer maintaining contact with the Temple and was pursuing his own agendas. Hence, ‘gone rogue.’ We don't know his plans.”
The two of them walked past a group of Jedi, among them Corran Horn. Jaina winced to see Corran, who looked leaner than she had ever seen him, his expression distant and bleak. But as Harfard passed before him, Jaina saw Corran's expression change. Anger flashed in his eyes. Jaina could feel his anger in the Force; it struck her like a slap and, intense as it was, she would not have been surprised to see him ignite his lightsaber and cut the captain down. Every Jedi in the Hall turned his way, and Master Hamner gave Corran a look of worry and caution.
But Corran did not attack, and Harfard remained oblivious to him—or nearly so: He rubbed the back of his neck nervously as he passed Corran, but he kept talking. “Who was the female Jedi, the one who rescued him from Dhidal Nyz?”
“We don't know her identity. We don't know that she was a Jedi.”
“She was using a lightsaber!”
“So does Zilaash Kuh, who works with you.”
“Kuh's whereabouts last night are very well known.”
“My point is that not everybody with a lightsaber is a Jedi. The recordings I saw cannot even prove that the subject you're looking for was either human or a woman. Take a lean man and pad his clothes properly—”
The two men reached the turbolift and waited for a car to arrive. Harfard shook his head, angry and frustrated. “You'll wish you had been more cooperative.” His voice suddenly became low enough that Jaina had to strain to hear. “The next step is going to be tracking devices. Implanted in every one of you Jedi.”
Master Hamner drew himself up to his full height and said a few words very, very quietly. Captain Harfard stiffened. Then the lift doors opened and the two men entered. They were gone a second later.
Jaina whispered to Kolir, a female Bothan Jedi Knight, “I wonder what the Master said.”
Someone right behind Jaina answered. “He said, ‘I would be privileged to show you where such a device might be implanted.’”
Jaina turned. The speaker was Dab. He had his miniature holocam to his face and was peering into its tiny screen. Jaina suspected that Dab had listened to the Master's words through the device's microphone. “Good answer. Informative, yet insulting.”
Dab grinned and brought his holocam down. He lowered his voice so only Jaina could hear. “You know, I'm not stupid.”
“I never said you were.”
“They're looking for a female mystery Jedi. And there we were last night, not half a klick from the scene of the crime, and you were out of my sight for, well, quite a while … If I had mentioned all that to the captain as he walked by, he'd be pretty sure he knew who the mystery woman was.”
His words sent a chill through Jaina. “Then why didn't you?”
Dab looked straight at her. “My job is to tell the authorities what I know about the Jedi. Not what I suspect. My lifelong job as a documentarian is to show the truth and expose lies. If I conclude that the position of my employers—that the Jedi have to be reined in for the sake of society, and anything the government does to rein the Jedi in is justified—is a lie, it sort of puts me in an awkward position.” He shrugged. “So I don't speculate. I try to figure out what the right thing to do is, and then do